Patent ruling has no impact on KCI’s rating

Moody’s said in statement Wednesday that the court ruling invalidating patents on wound-closure devices made by Kinetic Concepts Inc. will have no impact on the San Antonio company’s credit rating.

KCI’s creditworthiness is rated by Moody’s as Ba2, or two notches below investment grade. The outlook is stable, meaning there is no expected change in the rating.

A federal judge on Monday invalidated two patents licensed by KCI because certain claims of the patents “would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill” when the patent applications were filed in 1991.